Thanks for Nothing – Fantasy Stars Who Failed – Week 12

A wise person once told me that the only failure is not trying. While this aphorism may be true in most walks of life, there is one in which it holds very little water. That would be fantasy football. Believe me folks, I KNOW you are trying…at least, I hope you are. You get paid enough. But the simple fact of the matter is that every week, players do lay eggs, screw up, flat out FAIL. This is a look at some of the more high-profile bad showings from Week 12, and I hope you can look upon this with a knowing smile, safe in the knowledge that the player in particular did not burn YOU…but looking at their ownership stats, they probably did.

(Fantasy Points Based on NFL.com standard scoring)

Drew Brees (owned in 99% of NFL.com leagues) 5.60 Fantasy Points

Drew’s fantastic run of touchdown passes in consecutive games came to an end on Sunday, as the Houston Texans swarmed over him and his offense like a fat guy at a buffet. Brees completed just 25 of his 44 pass attempts, finishing with 228 yards and an interception. Despite the preseason fears that the Saints would focus more on the ground game, this hasn’t happened. Brees has been a consistent top ten fantasy QB in 2015, and this was the first time he had posted less than 12 points in a single game. He can probably be relied upon moving forward, if only because the Saints will keep on throwing.

Lamar Miller (99.4%) 1.30 FP

A large factor behind the fact that Bill Lazor is no longer an employee of the Miami Dolphins was his over reliance on the pass, and his casual ignorance of the ground game. Miller was one of the players who took the brunt of this philosophy, never more so than against the Jets where he rushed FIVE times for two yards. Since torching the Texans for 175 yards on the ground in Week 7, Miller has amassed just 148 yards in the last five games. When a fully integrated part of the offense, he can flirt with RB1 numbers. It’s just a question of how involved he is going to be for the last few weeks of the season, going into the end of his contract.

Chris Johnson (83%) 1.70 FP

One of the come back players of the year (Technically true, but he was only coming back from being rubbish), Johnson did suffer an injury in this game that will keep him out of action until the Super Bowl, if the Cardinals can get there. Johnson had been showing signs of slowing down, from a fantasy perspective. Since gaining 18.20 yards in Week 7, he had only 20.90 in the four games he had played after that. Maybe this injury gives his owners a chance to remove him from their line ups honourably, without fearing that his next big game is just around the corner.

Davante Adams (60.1%) 1.40 FP

I like to say that if the Packers can do one thing well, it is draft wide receivers. With names like Greg Jennings, Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb, the teams batting average when taking wideouts is high. However, I think it is time to realise that Adams is not a name that we will be adding to the annals of the proud. Targeted ten times against the Bears, he dropped more passes (three) than he caught (two). On the season, he has caught just over 50% of his targets, putting the ball on the ground seven times, and only twice has he gone over 59 yards in a game. Ah, but look who is throwing him the ball…oh, it’s one of the premier quarterbacks of the last decade or more. Ok. Adams is just not that good at football, I’m afraid.

Dez Bryant (98.9%) 2.60 FP

All the Cowboys need is for Dez and Tony to get back, then they’ll right the Cowboy ship and save fantasy seasons to boot. Yeah, it hasn’t happened. Bryant got up close and personal with Josh Norman on Thursday night, and joined the long list of “number one” receivers that the Panthers cornerback has taken out of a game. Bryant saw seven looks from his quarterbacks in this game, catching two for just 26 yards. Since his return in Week 7, he has just 18 catches for 232 yards and two scores. In a striking attack of the obvious, this is looking like a lost season for 88.

Jason Witten (79%) 3.60 FP

Old faithful is still there, week in and week out, busting his tail off for his team. His REAL team, of course. He’s not doing an awful lot for your fantasy teams. He did reel in four of the six passes sent his way on Thursday (the other two were intercepted), but only finished with 36 yards. He has 55 catches for 508 yards this season, but hasn’t found the end zone since Week 1. He has not gone over 43 yards in any of his last five games either. He’s lucky that the tight end spot is as volatile as it is, otherwise he could find himself dumped in a lot of leagues this week